In working with fluids such as medicaments and human body fluids, it is often dangerous to have human contact occur with the fluid materials. This is a prevalent problem in pipetting fluids which require a human operator to transfer precise amounts of liquid for testing purposes or other use. The liquid being transported in the pipette could be diseased, radio active or otherwise contaminated, thus endangering the operator.
It is of course imperative that any device which handles the fluids and engages in a pipetting operation be designed so that accurate volumes of fluid can be properly handled. It is often necessary to deal with microliter volumes of quite precise amounts.
Naturally any device that is employed in a pipetting operation should be of low cost construction and of reliability and should be easy and efficient to operate. The problems which should be kept in mind in developing any device of this type include the necessity of pipetting accurate amounts and providing indicating means to assure that accurate amounts have been pipetted while effectively avoiding human contact with the fluids or even with the pipette being utilized. Naturally, the ability to dispose of pipettes without direct human contact after use would also be an advantage since any residual materials could also contaminate the operator.